The Demon's Child
by magicspromise89
Summary: Mal has been having vivid dreams that she is looking through the eyes of a mysterious girl on the Isle named Mila. She discounts them at first. After all, she lived on the Isle most of her life and never met a Mila. But when her dreams start turning into nightmares, Mal becomes convinced that Mila is real and very much in danger.
1. Prologue

**Descendants: The Demon's Child**

Prologue

The "True" History of the Chernabog

Once upon a time, there was a gargoyle named Pyotr. Gargoyles are hideous creatures carved from stone that are brought to life by magic and bound to a holy place. Should evil ever threaten the Slavic church to which he was bound, Pyotr's job was to scare it away. For centuries, Pyotr stayed faithful to his makers and kept the parishioners safe from the darkness. But one day, a great war destroyed the town. Many fled to the church hoping for sanctuary, but death and destruction followed them. In an effort to save them, Pyotr left his perch and flew into the sanctuary. He knew he was breaking every rule by showing himself to the humans, but he could not stand idly by while his people suffered at the hands of the greatest evil he had ever faced. But instead of welcoming him as their savior, the people screamed in terror. " _Chernabog_ " they called him. It was a Slavic word meaning "black god of darkness." He was made to protect them from evil and they looked at him as if he were the devil himself. Before he could explain himself, the frightened people ran out the doors of the cathedral straight into oncoming enemy fire. Pyotr tried to follow, but he was bound to the church. All he could do was watch as the battle raged on and war laid waste to the countryside. Pyotr felt his stone heart break.

As the years passed and the church fell to ruin, Pyotr's grief turned to anger and eventually hatred. He denounced his makers. If people believed him to be a demon, then that is exactly what he would be. His dark thoughts summoned the true god of darkness. Hades, god of the Underworld appeared before him and offered him a deal.

"Come work for me," he said, "and all the powers of Hell shall be yours. You'll be able to get revenge on all those humans who ever did you wrong."

"What's the catch?" Deals with Hades always came with a price.

"Nothing much. You'll just be bound to a mountain guarding the entrance to the Underworld. And, of course, you'll be sleeping as solid immovable rock during the day time."

"I'll be bound to a mountain and I won't be able to move during the day? How is this better than my current miserable existence?"

"You will be the terror of the night as you tower over all the humans. Your shadow will cover entire villages. Even as you sleep your massive wings will form the very peak of Bald Mountain."

"So I'll be really big. I thought you said I'd have all the powers of Hell." Pyotr was skeptical.

Hades smiled. "You will be able to control hellfire, shape it into whatever you want and burn anything you wish. Lesser demons will be at your beck and call. Your name will strike fear in the hearts of every man, woman and child on Earth. Neither man nor beast would dare oppose you. None could. So, what do you say Pyotr? Do we have a deal?" Hades held out his hand and waited.

Pyotr clasped Hades' hand and shook it. "Call me Chernabog."

And so, it came to pass that a creature made to guard against evil became evil incarnate. For hundreds of years, Chernabog was the terror of the night. If someone was unfortunate enough to find themselves without shelter after dark, that person was rarely seen again. Being scared to death was not merely an expression, for Chernabog's evil presence was often enough to stop a heart.

Chernabog's reign of terror was finally brought to a halt when all the gods of Mt. Olympus combined their powers with those of great human sorcerers and fairies. A double layered magical barrier was erected over Bald Mountain. A small stream of magic was fed between the layers—just enough to keep him alive, albeit greatly reduced in size. A creature made entirely of magic could not exist without it, and the side of good could never stomach the thought of destroying a life. A little over twenty years ago, Bald Mountain—double barrier and all—was relocated to a hidden section of the Isle of the Lost. Only a select few know of its existence. Even fewer know the Isle's greatest secret: Chernabog isn't the only one inside the boundaries of Bald Mountain. Somehow, Chernabog had a daughter.


	2. Chapter 1

**Descendants: The Demon's Child**

Chapter 1

Dreaming of Hellfire

Mila couldn't stop staring at her latest creation. Something was missing, but she hadn't the slightest idea what. Mila wanted Mal's dragon heart pendant to be perfect. She idolized the reformed villain kids for taking control of their own destinies and she wanted to make something special for each of them. Carlos' Dalmatian figurine, Jay's serpent pin, and Evie's crown earrings were already finished. The sorcerer's intern had been keeping her apprised of current events. During last week's visit, Sophie had mentioned that King Ben was bringing some new VKs to Auradon soon. Sophie would be travelling back home for important "magic business" and had promised to take some of Mila's glasswork with her when she visited Auradon. Trapped on Bald Mountain as she was, Mila knew she could never go to Auradon. Barely anyone even knew she existed. Yen Sid once told her that she might cease to exist if she ever left the confines of the mountain's protective barriers. Mila had never been quite desperate enough to risk it. It didn't matter to her that the VKs would never know who made the glasswork. If Sophie could give them her artwork, it would be enough.

A loud crash followed by a scream interrupted her thoughts. Mila ran towards the sound and saw her latest batch of molten glass pouring across the floor outside her oven. She quickly grabbed her cauldron off the floor and put it back in the oven, saving as much as she could. She then grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and blasted the floor with its cold spray. Mila jumped back as the glass solidified and shattered. It was a good thing she had impenetrable skin. Mila turned to find a small goblin whimpering in the corner. He was pulling a glass shard out of his big toe.

The goblin grunted as she scooped him up in her wing. "Merv! You ruined my new batch of nail color!"

"You color your nails with glass?"

"Yes, and it looks amazing. It's too bad other girls can't dip their nails into molten glass." Mila flexed her wing and dropped him onto a stump.

"Ouchies," Merv said as he rubbed his sore bottom. "That hurt."

"That hurt? THAT hurt? You just knocked over molten glass and you're complaining about me dropping you on your butt? You could have gotten yourself killed, Merv! That glass was as hot as hellfire! Literally! My dad built that oven, remember? What on earth were you thinking?"

"I just wanted to surprise you. I brought you a present." Merv said sheepishly.

Mila sighed. Merv was always bringing her "presents." The little goblin had a bit of a crush on her. Mila wished she could return his affections. It wasn't like she had many other options. She only knew three other people—four if you counted Lenny the lizard—and one of them was her dad. "What is it this time, Merv? An old sock? A half empty tube of toothpaste? A sink faucet, perhaps?"

"Nope." Merv shook his head. "Way better than any of that junk. I got you a shiny."

"Oh darn. I was actually kind of hoping for a new faucet."

Merv jumped to his feet. "I can still get you one, Mila. I'll leave right now. I'm sure there are a few at Jafar's Junk Shop."

Mila smiled. "Relax, Merv. I was kidding. What did you bring me?"

Merv reached into the pocket of his dirty overalls and pulled out a small sparkling emerald.

Mila's eyes went wide. She snatched it out of his hand and examined it. "Shiny is right! This is a real emerald! Merv, how on earth did you get this?"

Merv blushed and grinned from ear to ear. A shipment of gems from the dwarf mines was headed for Atlantica when a few fell off the barge. Nobody can figure out how, but a few made it past the barrier and the sea witches got a hold of them. This one was small enough that I didn't think they'd miss it."

Mila beamed. "Merv this is exactly what I've been missing! I could kiss you right now!"

Merv perked up. "Really?"

"No."

"Awww." Merv pouted.

Mila ran back to grab the dragon heart pendant. Merv followed closely behind her. He was about to follow her back into her workshop but she stopped him at the door. "Merv, unless you can handle the heat of a thousand suns, I suggest you watch from a safe distance."

Merv looked horrified. "It isn't really _that_ hot, is it?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, as I have no idea how hot a thousand suns actually are, but probably not. However, the oven is heated with the embers of Hades, so I do suggest you stand back."

"Point taken." Merv sat down on a boulder with a decent view of the workshop. "What are you going to do with the shiny?" He called out.

Mila dropped the emerald into what was left of her nail color. It wasn't glass, but her hellfire oven could melt anything. "Once the emerald melts into the glass, I can use it to make the dragon eyes on the pendant appear to glow."

Merv was angry. "I thought that pendant was going to Auradon. You're giving my present away?"

"Not all of it. I only need a tiny bit for the pendant. I'll be using the rest on my nails." Mila stirred the glass with the tip of her wing. Glass never seemed to stick to her wings for very long, so it was the perfect tool.

Twenty minutes later, Mila was blowing glass through the tiniest tube in her collection. She fixed them to the pendant and left it to cool. Two perfect glowing green eyes. Her masterpiece was complete. Mila smiled. "Now. Time for my nails." Mila put on her special nail coloring gloves and reached her hands into the vat of molten emerald glass.

"Mal! Mal! Mal, wake up!" Evie screamed over the sound of the smoke alarm. Evie jumped back as Mal opened her glowing green eyes. The glow was gone the second she started coughing. The room was filled with smoke. Mal turned to see her bed engulfed in flames.

"Holy hellfire!" Mal rolled out of bed and patted down her nightgown. She looked at Evie who was struggling to breathe. "Did I do this?"

"I don't know and I don't care! Just put it out before it destroys all my clothes!"

"Um... _This cursed blaze I now must tame; get rid of all the smoke and flame."_

All of a sudden, the fire turned to water and all the smoke to steam. The room was flooded and it felt like a sauna.

Evie screamed. "My clothes! They're all ruined!"

Audrey ran in carrying a fire extinguisher. "I see I don't need this anymore. Jane went to get her mom and from the looks of this place, you'll need all the help you can get. What the heck, Mal? First you turn into a dragon, and now you're setting fires in your sleep? That smoke alarm woke up everyone on this floor! Is this gonna be a regular thing? Because if so, we're going to have to get maintenance to install some kind of sprinkler system.

Mal surveyed the room. Everything was ruined. Evie was still sobbing over her clothes. "I don't know what happened. I was just having this really weird dream about a strange gargoyle/demon girl named Mila who liked glassblowing. Her oven was heated by hellfire and she made us all cool stuff. She painted her nails with molten glass. I guess the fire in my dream manifested itself in reality?"

Audrey raised her eyebrows at Mal. "You dreamed about a fireproof hellion who paints her nails with glass? I will admit your dream was extremely bizarre, but just because you dream about fire doesn't mean you have to create it! I'm out of here. As much as I would love to see you get yelled at by Fairy Godmother, I can't take being in this room another second."

Evie managed to turn away from the ruined clothes and ran to her best friend. "M, are you okay? You're not burned are you?"

"I feel fine, E. I don't think I can burn from my own fire."

"That's good. You were acting so strange last night after Sophie handed you your new pendant. I thought at first that it might be cursed or something but your eyes didn't glow, so I figured you were just tired."

"Yeah, I was pretty tired last night. Wait. Sophie? The sorcerer's intern? And what new pendant?"

Evie looked concerned. "You don't remember, Mal? Well, I guess you were pretty out of it. Yesterday, we had a welcoming party for the new VKs. Sophie made a brief appearance. She said she had to help Professor Yen Sid with some important magic business to take care of, but before she left she had some gifts to give us. An anonymous artist on the Isle made us all beautiful glass creations. I really wish I knew who to thank for my gorgeous new earrings. And your dragon heart pendant is just to die for. Looks like you think so too. You haven't taken the thing off since you got it.

Mal looked down at the pendant hanging from her neck. Sure enough, it was the same one from her dream.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear those were real emeralds," Evie said as she opened a window. "Of course, where would anyone from the Isle get precious gems?"

Mal looked up at Evie. "They are emeralds, or at least they were. This was all in my dream. The goblin explained it. A shipment of gems was on its way to Atlantica when a few were carried away by the current. Sea witches got a hold of them. Merv snatched one—"

"Wait, Merv?"

"The goblin."

"The goblin in your dream was named Merv?"

"Yeah. You see Merv got a hold of this emerald and brought it to Mila as a present because he has a crush on her."

"A goblin named Merv has a crush on a fireproof hellion who paints her nails with glass?"

"Oh, so you were listening earlier. I thought you were too distraught over your clothes." Mal didn't notice Evie's face palm. Anyway, Mila had been struggling to figure out what was missing from the pendant she made for me, and then Merv arrived with the emerald. The goblin almost got himself killed first when he knocked over Mila's newest batch of hellfire nail glass. Mila described it as having the heat of a thousand suns."

"Wow...that sounds...hot."

"Yeah. Anyway, so Mila drops the emerald into what's left of her nail glass, uses a tiny bit of it to form the eyes on the pendant and then, while it's cooling, she dips her hands right into the molten glass!"

"Ouch. Guess it's a good thing she's fireproof."

"Hellfire-proof."

"Oh, of course. Can't forget that."

Mal looked up and realized that Evie was rolling her eyes at her. "You've just been humoring me this whole time, haven't you?"

Evie got up and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Mal, the steam must be getting to you. You had a crazy dream. We've all been there. Granted, I've never had one quite that crazy, but it was still a dream."

"But it felt so real."

"Dreams can be like that some times. But right now, instead of worrying about your weird dream, how about we go see Fairy Godmother about you setting fires in your sleep? I love you, M, but we can't stay roommates if I have to recreate my entire clothing line every time you wake up in the morning.

"Figures you would focus on that."

"I can't help it. You can take the girl out of the Isle...

"...but you can't take the Isle out of the girl."

The two friends laughed as they walked out of the room.


End file.
